The San Francisco Giants are pursuing free-agent slugger Manny Ramirez and have offered him a four-year deal, a well-connected source told CBS 5.

Financial terms of the contract offer were not immediately known. The deal was said by the source to contain incentives for the third year of the contract and a club option for the fourth.

In addition, the Denver Post newspaper quoted a Major League Baseball insider as saying the Giants were “quietly making an aggressive play” for Ramirez.

The chances of the Giants signing Ramirez, a 36-year-old left fielder, were unclear. A team spokesperson told CBS 5, “it’s not happening.”

Probable translation of that last quote: Boras has created this stuff from whole cloth in an effort to pressure the Dodgers. If so, I’d like to see Sabean come out in a press conference and say that this is utter bunk, and that he believes it is Scott Boras trying to play Ned Colletti or whoever else and that he won’t be a part of it.

All that said, I hope it is true and that a deal happens. I’d kind of like to see Manny on the Giants if for no other reason that I like baseball better when the Giants are interesting for some reason.

Comments

I suspect that GM are reluctant to call out Boras and his antics as he represents a great number of players, from superstars to draft picks, and doing so may make it difficult to sign one of his players at the level you can afford to play his games.

My guess is Theo could tell some stories about dealing with Scott on the high end while the Pirates could share some inside scoop on the shannigans he pulled this year with Alvarez. Problem is, doing so may make the next time around with Boras significantly more challenging as I suspect that Boras’ ego would cloud the negotiations somewhat.

If I recall correctly – I think the Boston media was pushing for Theo to say he got the better of Boras in the Dice-K signings as Boras initially requested almost twice what he signed for and Theo was very diplomatic in his responses knwowing that any image of gloating could come back to bite him.

I am looking forward to a GM tellall book being published someday and would certainly love to read one from Theo, Brian Cashman, Kenny Williams, Pat Gillick and Frank Wren.

How do you account for the backbone the Dodgers have shown thus far in the Manny negotiations? Isn’t this the same GM who agreed to pay Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones ridiculous sums in a market absent competing offers?

This is completely expected from Boras which is exactly why I’m astonished that after the Mets’ low/Lowe offer, Boras didn’t immediately “leak” 5 other teams being interested. Where are the rumors of mystery teams looking into Lowe? Surely the Nationals and Reds are willing to go 5 years on him, no?

What incentive would the Giants have to call Boras on any B.S. in negotiations with the Dodgers? If Ned Colletti overpays for Manny both in the short- and long-terms, that’s a huge potential benefit for the Giants. I say, string ‘em along!